Man Gets 5 Years for Operating $13 Million Mortgage Fraud

PHILADELPHIA — A suburban Philadelphia man who acknowledged orchestrating a $13 million mortgage fraud scheme for nearly a decade is headed to prison.

A federal judge in Philadelphia sentenced George Barnard on Tuesday to five years. The 47-year-old Newtown Square resident pleaded guilty to multiple fraud counts in April.

The U.S. attorney's office says Barnard used the money from the scheme to buy yachts, luxury cars and beach homes.

In addition to his prison term, Barnard was ordered to pay $12.7 million in restitution and to forfeit $4.2 million in illegal proceeds.

Barnard was one of two owners of Capital Financial Mortgage Corporation. Between 2005 and 2013 he defrauded banks by using money he borrowed for his personal use instead of funding loans for borrowers or paying off borrowers' existing mortgages.